Human-driven truck bumps into driverless autonomous bus

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Two hours after it was launched to much fanfare, a driverless, autonomous shuttle was bumped into by a human-driven delivery truck in Las Vegas. The driver of the truck was cited for “unsafe backing.” The driverless shuttle was not cited.

The Las Vegas Review Journal said that police determined that the shuttle came to a brief stop when it sensed the truck was trying to back up. However, the truck continued to back up until its tires touched the front of the shuttle, resulting in the citation for the truck driver for unsafe backing.

The shuttle was built by a company called Navya. We got a ride in one a few years ago at the Consumer Electronics Show, an event also held in Las Vegas. Our ride was a pleasant, if very low-speed, experience, as efficient as an elevator. The upright shuttles hold 11 people. The one currently in service in Las Vegas travels a half-mile loop in the Fremont East neighborhood. Navya already has shuttles operating in Paris, and two days ago announced another vehicle, Autonom Cab, that carries up to six people in driverless serenity at up to 56 mph. It has constructed a plant in Michigan to build autonomous shuttles for North America.

The driverless future is coming. So far, the driverless shuttles are doing better than the drivers of trucks.